Molecular Mechanism of Polyploidization and Binucleate Formation of the Hepatocyte

Abstract

A cross-linking agent (actinomycin D or mitomycin C) was administered to newborn rats with liver cells actively proliferating in the diploid state, to test the recently proposed hypothesis that polyploidization and binucleate formation become manifest, during abortive cell proliferation in the nucleus with cross-links between double strands of DNA. The polyploidization of hepatocyte nuclei was analyzed by Feulgen cytofluorometry with smear preparations, and binucleate formation was determined on section preparations. The number of polyploid and binuclear cells increased in rat liver treated with a cross-linking agent in comparison with the control. This finding supports the cross-linkage hypothesis.